Israel's Cabinet Votes on Hostage Deal; First Releases Set for Sunday

Israel convened its cabinet on Friday to vote on the hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas. While some celebrate it as a victory for Hamas, many Israelis remain uneasy. 

After months of wrangling and last-minute obstacles, the hostage-ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas has been signed. 

U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken stated, "This is a moment of tremendous relief for Israelis and Palestinians alike.  It's going to take tremendous effort, political courage, and compromise to realize that possibility, to try to ensure that the gains achieved over the past 15 months at enormous, excruciating cost are actually enduring." 

But the deal came at a price. Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, announced his party would leave the government if it passes what he called a ‘reckless agreement’ but would return if Israel resumes its battle against Hamas. 

"The deal presented is a reckless deal. It includes the release of hundreds of murderous terrorists. It includes the return of hundreds of thousands of Gazans to the north of the Gaza Strip, including thousands of terrorists. The withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor and the end of the fighting. In fact, this deal will end all the achievements we were able to bring to the State of Israel," Gvir said in a televised address.

According to the plan, 33 of the 98 hostages will be released over a six-week period starting in a few days. It is uncertain how many of them are alive. Two American citizens, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Keith Siegel, are among the first group.

Udi Goren’s cousin, Tal Haimi, was murdered on October 7, and his body was taken to Gaza. Speaking to journalists during a briefing by Media Central, Goren still had questions.

"We have no time to spare. We've gotta go into this deal and start phase one at the same time," Goren told journalists in a briefing sponsored by Media Central.

Still, Goren has mixed emotions, "What happens when Hamas says, ‘You know, we can't find your cousin. Sorry, we don't know where he is.’ What do we do? Do we break down the deal? Do we have the international backup, the guarantees that we were given to make sure that, alright, if this is what Hamas does, then the deal ends, then we can actually implement the guarantees?"

To the relief of many Israelis, the Bibas family is on the list of upcoming releases: father Yarden, his wife Shiri, and their children Ariel and Kfir. Kfir recently marked his second birthday in captivity.

Celebrations broke out in Gaza and across the Middle East, with Iranians cheering the deal as a great victory for Hamas. Israelis, however, were much more cautious.

Israeli Content Creator and Activist Tal Oran told CBN News that it’s the context of the deal that is unsettling for many.

"On the ground here in Israel, the consensus that I’m getting is that we’re all a bit confused. The feelings and emotions are very mixed about this. Obviously, everybody is ecstatic that we’re going to have hostages coming back home."

Oran continued, "I can tell that it’s rubbing a lot of people the wrong way, and I myself don’t even know 100 percent how to feel. I think that’s actually the consensus in the country right now."

At Mahane Yehuda, Jerusalem’s open-air market, feelings about the deal were mixed. 

"My mother’s very happy. She’s been crying the whole day. I’m happy as well, I think—I mean, I want the hostages to come back," Aviad told CBN News. 

Mendel expressed cautious hope. "First of all, let’s hope it works out for the hostages. If they come back, we’ll all be happy, and we’re all praying every day without stopping. But the whole hostage deal itself looks a little bit skeptical." 

Danny was more critical. "I think we lost all over. The decisions we made, the agreement—we gave Hamas everything they asked for and gained almost nothing. We could have done the same thing six months ago. And I’m very angry with the Biden administration for making things more difficult with all the humanitarian aid. That made the war last longer and we paid with soldiers’ lives." 

Mordechai welcomed the return of the hostages but remained doubtful. "I’m very happy they’re coming back. It’s unfortunate it took this long. But based on what I feel from this deal, I don’t think all of them will be released. Some will still be in Gaza. And it’s unfortunate that we’re dealing with terrorists who use hostages to get more from Israel and other countries." 

Gadi highlighted the uncertainty. "The ceasefire is complicated. The hostages returning is good—it’s important. We can’t leave them there. But this also releases a lot of terrorists, and it’s impossible to know if they’ll return to terror. That’s what scares most of the public—what happens next?" 

Yasmin summed up the urgency many Israelis feel. "We’re at a point where something just has to be done. They have to come back. It’s the human, Jewish thing to do—I guess you’ve heard that a thousand times. But I think it’s something Israelis really need right now. We need hope from some direction. We need to see them back."